Second Time's the Charm
by Team Kaka-Sensei
Summary: Her blood everywhere - on the weapon, on the ground, on his clothes. She sacrificed herself just to save him, despite all the sins he's committed. As her lips form a heartbreakingly beautiful smile, Sasuke can only ask, "Why?" One-shot.


A/N: A drabble(?) I wrote today, inspired by a post on tumblr defending SasuSaku against NaruSaku by filledhislonelyexistence. Yeah. Hate the title for this one-shot, but I can't think of anything better at the moment.

Rating: T for violence.

Pairings: Sasuke and Sakura.

Disclaimer: Written purely for fanfiction. In no way associated with Masashi Kishimoto. I do not own Naruto.

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Things were going badly on the battlefield.

Obito had absorbed the Juubi and made himself it's Jinchuuriki not fifteen minutes ago, and already he was raining absolute destruction on the shinobi army. Combined with Madara's sudden desire to join the fray, every solider was scrambling to dodge attacks and shockwaves that tore up the landscape for miles all around.

It seemed that with each sweep of a hand or jutsu, Obito and Madara were picking off ninja from the alliance by the hundreds, burying them, burning them, obliterating them. If not for healing prowess of the newly returned Tsunade and her star apprentice, Sakura, half the alliance would already be dead.

Sasuke fought Obito head on. These two men, these _monsters_, were a tarnish, a stain, on the Uchiha name. It was mistakes like them that contributed to Itachi's horrible fate and sacrifice. Sasuke would never forgive them. He could barely, if even, forgive Konoha. He could - he _would_ - reform the damned village; but the only thing he would give the two wayward Uchiha was certain death.

The first three Edo-Tensei Hokages were engaging in a fight to the death with Madara, never too far. Sasuke, Naruto and the Fourth Hokage were taking on the Juubi's jinchuuriki.

They were not having much luck.

The sheer raw, destructive power Obito wielded was off the charts, unlike Sasuke had ever encountered or could fathom. He had thought the Juubi itself was bad, but at least him and Naruto had stood a chance, especially with the revived Hokages. Now, as Obito compressed a gargantuan amount of chakra into a bijuu ball, gravity of the jutsu creating a crater where the man stood, Sasuke felt the undeniable chill of fear creep up his spine.

He wasn't sure if he'd be able to survive this fight. If anyone would.

With a roar that was a strangled, pained cross between man and monster, Obito launched the chakra ball towards the three shinobi. It took every ounce of Sasuke's training and reflexes cultivated from years of experience to dive out of the path of the attack. He was exhausted and injured from going at it for some time already. His jump was not as strong or as far as it needed to be. He could feel the resulting shockwave and radial chakra from the impact flying towards him, burning his sandals and feet, when something wrapped around his waist and flung him out of harms way.

Sasuke landed unceremoniously next to Naruto. Out of ingrained habit, the Uchiha shot a glare at his teammate for dumping him in on the ground. The blond was panting heavily, sweat discernable on his features despite the Kyuubi's chakra coating his body. Sasuke swore the glow and warmth that radiated from the hyperactive ninja was starting to wane. This wasn't good. Even Naruto, who was known for his superhuman stamina, was running low on fuel.

"Getting tired, eh, Sasuke?" Naruto taunted, in between pants. "Need a break?"

Sasuke growled as he made to stand next to his rival. "Che, I'm just getting started."

They faced Obito again. The battle went from bad to worse.

The former member of Team Minato was finished warming up, as he unleashed a volley of new attacks, doubled in intensity and frequency. Sasuke and Naruto dodged, jumped and rolled out of the way the best they could, barely managing sometimes, sustaining injuries most of the time. It was a sick dance of survival, pure adrenaline and the will to _live _buying them a few extra minutes of life.

Their luck ran out.

There was a brief reprieve in Obito's attacks, Minato having successfully engaged in physical combat with his former student instead of running from him, and Naruto and Sasuke gathered up what minuscule chakra remained to their persons for a combined attack.

_This was their only chance. _

Over the roar of battle, Sasuke heard the Fourth yell in warning and in his peripheral he noticed Naruto desperately try to switch from offensive to defensive, reaching out with an elongated chakra arm to snatch him from danger once more - _of course he had to play the hero _- but Sasuke knew it was going to be too late. A spear from Obito's body was shooting towards him at an alarming speed and Sasuke wasn't going to be able to jump away in time, Naruto wasn't going to reach him in time, and he was going to die.

Sasuke stared down the missile without flinching. He would not waver, even in death. He owed it to Itachi, to his clan. He would die with dignity, a shinobi's death.

The blow never came. Suddenly, a flash of pink zoomed right in front of him, arms outstretched, back straight, stance determined and _not moving out of the way. _

Within his next blink Sasuke heard nothing but saw everything. He saw Minato's horrified face some yards away. He saw Obito's surprised, yet satisfied and outraged eyes. He saw Naruto sprinting towards him with a heartbreakingly devastated gloom surrounding him.

He saw the spear sticking out of Sakura's back, a mere inch from her spine, a hair's breadth away from his abdomen. He saw her body flinch from the impaling, shuddering, arms falling to grasp the weapon as she hunched over in pain.

He saw her blood everywhere. Drenching the weapon, the ground, on his clothes.

All this happened in a second, yet to Sasuke it felt like a lifetime. Then time returned to normal speed, and everything was happening way too fast.

"Sakura!" He finally spoke. He reached out to steady the girl, careful to avoid the sharp tip and not worsen her grievous injury. At the sound of her name, Sakura slowly, painstakingly, turned to look at the boy whose life she just saved.

Sweat matted her pink hair to her forehead and cheeks. Scratches, dirt and blood littered her pale visage. A flood of red dribble was falling from her lips. Her eyes, despite it all, were vibrant, more green and _alive _than Sasuke could ever recall seeing them. She met his eyes without pain, without remorse; with that same look that she always gave him, even though he had never asked for it. He had never asked for her to care about him so much, to look at him like _that _and make something resonate deep within him that he was so sure he had lost.

Sasuke did not ask Sakura sacrifice herself for him.

She did anyways.

Sasuke stood there, helplessly holding her against him, at a loss of what to do. He wasn't the medic, _she was. _He didn't know how to heal and give life, _she did._ He only knew how to destroy and kill.

Not for the first time, Sasuke felt completely inadequate.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled, voice scratching and thick with worry. He stood in front of his two teammates, arms suspended in air as if he wanted to reach out and assure himself that Sakura was okay, but was afraid of hurting her. He opted for hovering over her, glowing eyes roving over her crumbled form. "Are you ok? Heal yourself! Why aren't you healing yourself?!"

Sakura's hands, shaking and slick with her shiny, wet blood, gripped the spear tighter. "I'm getting to that," the girl mumbled, her tone strong, but voice so low and so weak. Gritting her teeth against the pain, the green light of her healing chakra erupted around the wound, and with a deep, hitched breath, she pulled the spear out of her in one smooth motion. Sakura bit her lips to prevent any sound of pain, and not one tear was shed.

All Sasuke could do was stare.

Abruptly, Naruto spun around and used his chakra to shield himself and his team from another bombardment of missiles from Obito. He had not forgotten about them.

"Sasuke!" Naruto's voiced snapped the boy out of his stupor. "You need to get Sakura-chan to safety! I'll hold off Obito for now with my dad! Hurry!"

"No!" Sakura protested, voice already stronger and blood no longer dripping from her mouth. Her hands were placed over the stab wound, healing rapidly, but Sasuke felt that it wasn't fast enough. He could still feel the tell-tale sign of fresh blood seeping onto his shirt from her backside. Where was Katsuyu?

"You two need to keep fighting! I'm going to be fine. It's just a scratch, nothing I haven't dealt with before." The girl insisted, even though her breathing was still labored. Sasuke glared at her. How stupid was she?! How could she go about pretending she hadn't almost _died_, right before his eyes, _protecting him? _

In the back of his mind, Sasuke knew that Sakura was going to be fine, that she could take care of herself. She had proved it ten times over on the battlefield. Yet, for the life of him he couldn't get the image of the spear ripping through her vest like water, of her blood everywhere.

Sakura gripped his bicep and she shakily rose from his embrace. Though his hands itched to hold her back, ready to form the necessary seals to summon Aoda and demand he carried her away to safety, he restrained himself. Such actions would only insult his teammate.

With her back to him, for the third time since his return, he could see the hole in her uniform where the the spear had run through her. Where only minutes ago there had been a gaping _hole _in her body, there was nothing but smooth, unblemished skin. There wasn't even a scar.

Sasuke let a quiet huff of amazement escape him. "Why?" He whispered, eyes still drinking in the sight of her perfectly healed skin.

Once again, Sakura turned to look at him over her shoulder. Her hair was still matted, face still dirty, dried blood painting her chin. Like the first sunrise after a decade of darkness, her eyes were more resolute than ever now, shining as bright as Naruto, a gentle smile adorning her lips. She was beautiful.

"I love you, Sasuke-kun."

All breath left Sasuke's body and the Uchiha felt as if _he _were the one who got stabbed. His sharigan eyes widened almost comically in blatant surprise. Sakura giggled slightly, returning her attention to the battle at hand. She engaged Naruto in conversation, assuring the boy that she was fine, asking if he needed to be healed.

Sasuke stood there, eyes wide as saucers, drinking in the sight of the kunoichi before him.

She... loved him? After all this time?

He knew that she once had, of course. He had never been able to completely block out his memories of Team 7, their faces and echoes of laughter keeping him up at night.

The memory of her teary confession had plagued him often.

With the path he had taken, with the sins he had committed, Sasuke naturally assumed that her affections for him were gone. Especially considering the incident in the Land of Iron.

She hadn't been able to kill him then, and now... she had put herself at death's door, just to save him.

_"I love you with all my heart!"_

_"I love you, Sasuke-kun."_

Itachi flashed before his eyes.

_"I will love you forever." _

Without warning, Sasuke took a hasty step forward and wrapped his arms around Sakura, burying his face in the nape of neck, vest and hair tickling his cheeks.

He felt her body stiffen in obvious shock. "S-Sasuke-kun?" She questioned, voice shaky.

His arms tightened their hold. "Thank you."


End file.
